Steadily Losing Their Appeal

The three Bali Bombers – Amrozi, Ali Gufron and Iman Samudera – have once again been rebuffed by the Bali District Court in their continuing attempt to delay their execution before a firing squad.

In rejecting their third appeal filed to the Supreme Court, Nyoman Gde Wirya – the Chairman of the District Court in Denpasar, told Tempo Interaktif on Wednesday, May 14, 2008, "the material (in the appeal) is the same as in the first and second appeal." Wirya also told the press that the final determination regarding the third appeal lies solely with the Supreme Court and has forwarded the appeal to Jakarta, while refusing to again convene a judicial panel in Bali to hear the appeal.

In a written communication from the Bali Court to the Supreme Court, the Bali Jurist has reportedly attached the formal decision in the first appeal and the minutes of the second appeal of the "Bali Bombers" to the latest appeal. The Bali Court is refusing to convene a panel of judges and have, instead, chosen to send their appeal directly to the Supreme Court.

The "Bali Bombers" have now appealed their case three times. The first appeal was rejected by the Bali District Court and the Supreme Court. A second appeal was withdrawn by the Bombers' attorneys when their request for a change of venue and the attendance of the 3 accused in Bali was refused by the Bali judges. The third and latest appeal, purportedly prepared directly by the three condemned men, was submitted to the Bali Court via the Chief Warden of the Batu Prison in Nusakambangan where the "Bali Bombers" now sit on death row.

Nothing New

Wirya told Tempo Interaktif, the back-to-back repetitive appeal process being pursued by the three convicts is at odds with the accepted principle of a simple, speedy and low cost judicial process guaranteed under law in Indonesia.

Wirya said the entire matter now rests with the Supreme Court. "If the Court orders us to convene a panel of judges, we will do so," he explained. In the meantime, preparations for the final execution of the three continues.

Wirya said that there was no new evidence included in the latest appeal, presenting only a repetition of the earlier arguments that the conviction and death sentences delivered against the three on July 23, 2004 is invalid because it applies a new anti-terrorist law passed in 2004 which post dates a crime committed in 2002. That legal argument was dismissed in the initial appeal.